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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

More people are picking up their mobile phones and tablets to check their email inbox and that could be either good news or bad news for marketers.

On the upside, it means people are getting the message throughout the day. They can pick up their email while they’re out having lunch or waiting in line at the bank. The downside is that they have little patience for emails that don’t display properly on a mobile screen.

According to a new report from BlueHornet, a poorly displayed email would send 30.2% rushing to click the unsubscribe button. This is up from 18% last year which goes to show that are patience is waning. A year ago, mobile email wasn’t that common, so it was easy to forgive a company for not getting on board. Now, though, there’s no excuse for a poorly executed email.

The slightly better news is that the overwhelming majority of consumers would simply delete a bad email. You’re still losing eyeballs but at least you’ll get a second chance to make it right.

But poor quality isn’t the main reason people unsubscribe. Mostly, they do it because they get too many emails.

This is pretty crazy. Only 24.5% of people unsub because the email is no longer relevant. That’s a decrease from last year. But look at frequency. This shows you how tentative the relationship is between customers and brands – too many emails, Tweets or Facebook updates and you’re out. That’s scary.

If given an opportunity to opt-down to fewer emails or more targeted emails, more people said they’re consider it compared to last year.

What have we learned from all this? That consumers are a demanding lot! They want their cake perfect and they want it at 50% off with free shipping. All you can do is try to keep them engaged with emails that are informative, clear and formatted for mobile. If you’re offering a coupon that can be used at a physical location, make it clear that showing the cashier your phone will do. No printing required. That kind of transaction is often awkward, but it’s getting better.

We’re getting there, my mobile friends. Just keep plugging away and soon mobile sales and coupon redemptions will be as common as swiping your card through a POS system.